Reflections in the Kitchen
by hiddenfiresindeed
Summary: All she wanted was a little vacation. If only her husband's partner would stop getting injured. A brief one-shot from Joanne DeSoto's POV.


Title: Reflections in the Kitchen

Characters/Pairings: Joanne/ Roy, Johnny

Rating: K

Word Count: 754

Summary: All she wanted was a little vacation. If only her husband's partner would stop getting injured. A brief one-shot from Joanne Desoto's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to Emergency.

They couldn't go on a vacation. Joanne slammed the oven door closed on the baked beans with more force than was necessary. Roy just simply didn't have any personal leave to use. He _never_ had any personal leave, Joanne reflected angrily. By the time he started to accrue a decent amount of hours, Johnny always seemed to have another accident. A broken leg, a head injury. And when the mishaps were more serious, like the deadly virus or the hit and run accident that almost cost Johnny his life, Roy refused to leave his partner's side, calling in favors with the Department, using up any leave he had until he knew once again that his partner and friend would make it through okay.

Joanne sighed, turning to mash the potatoes with needless zeal. Johnny was all alone, she understood that, and her husband had been given Johnny's medical power-of-attorney. She couldn't really blame her husband for wanting to be there for his partner, and truthfully, she also cared a lot about the young man that had somehow become a member of the family. It was just sometimes… _so frustrating_.

Outside, she heard her husband's low chuckle and his partner's high-pitched giggle drift in from the backyard patio. Joanne almost smiled, before she remembered that she was irritated. Soon, they would come in, proudly bearing trays of the burgers and ribs they had grilled, talking in unfinished sentences, or communicating silently with their eyes, unknowingly leaving out everyone else in the room from their conversation. It was a trick they had learned over the years of working together out in the field, but it drove Joanne crazy to no end. _No one_, except herself, should be able to read her husband that well. The young, petite woman stopped mixing the potato salad long enough to roll her eyes. The occasional feelings of jealousy were threatening to rear up again, and she was already too annoyed to deal with those emotions right now.

Roy had felt badly about not being able to go on the cruise, and had offered to switch out a couple shifts so they could take a long weekend and go wherever she wanted to. Joanne added relish to the salad and crossed the room to place the bowl in the refrigerator, her eyes falling on the camping gear in the front entryway as she did so. Her nose wrinkled in distaste, recalling the ripe, overwhelming stench of "outdoors" that her two men had brought back with them after a two day fishing trip in Johnny's beloved mountains.

She paused, and her eyes softened. Two days ago, the two paramedics had departed, spirits subdued and eyes dark and hooded, still mourning the small life they had been unable to save on their previous shift. This afternoon, the men had returned, rank and mud-encrusted, a peaceful contentment on their faces, having obviously found a way to help themselves and each other work through their grief and guilt so that they could continue doing what they loved.

The sliding door slammed, and before Joanne could call out to Chris to be careful, an exuberant young man appeared in the kitchen, bouncing on his feet with repressed energy, his face alight with child-like joy after playing with her children in the backyard. As she watched the younger paramedic, Joanne knew that behind the mask of youth and misleading innocence was a professional maturity, knowledge, and an unexpected determination – a determination to send her husband home to her, safe and whole, at the end of every shift. The woman felt her anger dissipating as the brown eyes blinked at her owlishly.

Roy followed behind, carrying the second tray. He brushed past his partner, and set the platter of meats down on the countertop before wrapping his arms around the woman and drawing her into a spontaneous, passionate kiss. Joanne could remember a time when her husband had been stoic and methodical, a time before his partner and the paramedic program had woken something inside of him, had given him a greater purpose in life and lit a fire beneath him. Now, his interactions with her and their children, with everything around him, were infused with a vibrancy that had been missing before.

The young woman felt the last bit of resentment vanish. Her sister and brother-in-law could go on the week long cruise by themselves; somehow, tropical islands and sun-bathed decks no longer seemed important. Joanne wrapped her arms tighter around her fireman, and returned his kiss.


End file.
